FOUNDER/: METAXIA POULOS PUBLISHER: DIMITRIOS KYRIAKOPOULOS EDITOR: DEBORAH PARSONS WRITERS: ELIAS ANAGNOSTOU, DIONYSIS ANEMOGIANNIS, ASPASIA BEYER, JEAN BINGEN, ANNA COMINOS, MARIA DEFTEREVOS, MARIANNA HALKIA, PAULA KARYDIS, GEORGE LAMPOGLOU, KIRIAKI ORFANOS, PIA PANARETOS, ASPASIA PATTY, HELEN TZORT-ZOPOULOS, CAMERON WEBB ARTWORK: DAPHNE PETROHILOS PHOTOGRAPHY: DIMITRIS BALTZIS, CHRISSA FATSEAS, VENIA KAROLIDOU, JAMES PRINEAS, VAGELIS TSIGARIDAS, STELLA ZALONI PROOF READING: JOY TATARAKI, PAULA CASSIMATIS LAYOUT & DESIGN: MYRTO BOLOTA EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING-/: 6944-551720, e-mail: kse.1993@yahoo.gr FREE COMMUNITY PAPER -

! welcome!, . (History), (Glossology), (Physics), (Mathematis), (Archaeology), (Architecture). (Museums), (Music), (Theatre) - (Comic) (Tragic) (Philosophy). (Antidote) , . . . (.)

Listen really closely. It is... the Sound of Silence... Welcome to Ky-thera! Throughout history visitors to Aphrodites island have realised that what makes Kythera exceptional are the Silences. So switch your digital devices off and step into another time, another way of being. Take a dive into otherness... your eternal otherness. Absorb the depth of story that is present in the magical landscape, the various divine beaches, the simple and yet glorious architecture. And get to know a local. Put down your mobile phone and listen to the winds... hear the secrets of the Sirens. Enjoy your adventure on Kythera, leaf through this years Kythera Summer Edition. It is brimming with information about the island. Take the time to disconnect from the modern world and absorb what Kythera does best. Enliven your senses

Enjoy 2016!

KYTHERASummer Edition 2016

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23ISSUE

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FOR 23 YEARS Kythera Summer Edition has been sharing articles, stories and information with local Kytherians, Greeks of the diaspora and new and returning visitors to our beautiful island. While we are a tourist paper in-tent on promoting the islands economy, its produce, its beaches and its beauty, we are also a paper for the community in all its mani-fest forms. We publish stories that explore the islands cultural, folkloric and human identity, that unearth its deep archaeological past. Importantly we also investi-gate issues affecting the everyday lives of locals - be it health or ed-ucation or social justice. Nothing is out of bounds, nothing is too controversial. We are the paper for all seasons; or at least we try to be.Survival from one year to the next is never easy. Thats how it is in Greece these days. We are not alone. Life is a struggle for so many. Somehow, amazingly, we have survived and we have done so in large part because we have substance. We are now the oldest continuously circulating bilingual tourist paper in Greece!While I am the powerhouse that brings Kythera Summer Edition to annual fruition, I am only able to do this because of the talented and committed team I have work-ing with me. For six months we la-bour to produce a first rate paper, with content we can all be proud of. Like a theatre play or musical production, one never sees the gruelling rehearsals before open-ing night. The result of this hard work, the 32 exceptional pages of words and art contained in this 2016 issue, would not have been achieved without our Editor Deb-orah Parsons, the writers of these wonderful stories and the read-ers who send us their articles and letters of concern. To Daphne for creating this years rather glamor-ous Miss Archaeology map and to our photographers a huge thank you. Enormous thanks also to Joy Tataraki, Pia Panaretos, Manolis Plantzos, Mrs Eleni Charou, Mano-lis Kassimatis and Chrissa Fatseas who helped in so many ways. A sincere thank you to Nick and Viola Haros & family of St. George Foodservice, Sydney, for their continued sponsorship and gen-erosity; and to the Kytherian Association of Australia. We are also indebted to the Karvounades Coffee Club. Without them, you would not be reading this issue.On behalf of Kytherians and Phi-lokytherians the world over, we thank you all and promise to make every effort to keep going strong for many years to come.

Metaxia Georgopoulou

LETTERS TO THE EDITORI have been a frequent visitor to the island of Kythera since 1992 when I visited for the first time the family of my oldest and dearest friends, Katerina and Vrettos Stathis at Karvounades village. Since then my wife Dina (may God rest her soul) and I have frequently had the opportunity to enjoy our summers in Kythera, swimming every day in its wonderful seas while also tasting the delicious local cuisine. Most of all, however, we enjoyed the warm hospitality of our friends. Soon their friends became our friends, especially Helen and Jimmy Kontoleon.

After three years absence I returned to Kythera this summer. Jimmy (a bril-liant and spiritual man) introduced me to your newspaper. At the time, how-ever, I did not have the opportunity to read it with the care and attention it deserved as urgent developments in the economy in July (the infamous capital controls) demanded my immediate return to Athens. So when I finally read it I had already left the island and never had the chance to meet you in person and congratulate you on the wonderful work that was evident throughout the publication.Not only does your newspaper educate with facts and inform the reader of current news and activities, it also provides us with an insight to the islands history, both past and modern, to its culture, to the beauty of the islands nature along with stories of the ordinary, everyday people of the island.I was very touched, in particular, when I read the postcard you published sent in 1945 by a young girl to her father, an immigrant to Australia, describing in simple but touching words the sufferings of her poor family at the time. I was a nine year old boy then myself (born in 1936). I also suffered from the consequences of the two wars Greece endured back then, World War II and then the civil war, at one point almost dying of starvation.Mrs Metaxia, I would like to offer again my warmest congratulations for your excellent work. May God grant you health and strength to continue your wonderful efforts to give us all that we lack - love for our country.

Emm. Maragakis, General of the Hellenic Army (ret.) and former Military Attach to Baghdad, Iraq, and Amman, Jordan

MIXING IT WITH MIRANDA

Kytherian summers are always loaded with memories. Lazy days lying on the beach, snorkelling, moon-lit village dances. 2015 however was a year full of memories like no other. Dad was driving my sisters Nikita, Tiana and I to the Kythera airport. Tiana, like many young Kytherian-Australians, was about to head off to meet friends and travel to other Greek islands. As we approached the airport, we saw a plane landing so we put the pedal to the metal. Only instead of the anticipated Olympic flight, when we rushed inside the airport we were all flabbergasted as we watched the door of a private Lear jet open and witnessed Victoria Secret model Miranda Kerr and her partner Snapchat creator Evan Spiegel float down the stairs. It was business as usual at the Alexandros Onassis Airport. Everyone (but us)

was oblivious to her. With no paparazzi in sight and not wanting to make a scene, we silently screamed in our heads. We were approached by one of her assistants who told us Miranda was willing to have a photo taken with us only could we please not share it on social media until she and Evan Spiegel had left Kythera. Much to our surprise they had come to attend a wedding at which her mother was officiating. So the three Comino sisters quickly posed

for a photo with Miranda outside the Kytherian airport before she and Spiegel left for the Maneas Hotel in Agia Pelagia where they were staying. Now thats a Facebook profile photo!

Elissa Cominos, Sydney Australia

THE LESS THAN MAGICAL GREEN POOL

I really want to thank you all as your tourist newspaper made an exceptional difference to our trip to Kythera last summer. My Anglo-Australian wife and family and I have always wanted to make the trip to my great-grandfathers homeland. So in 2015 Kythera made it to the top of our Bucket List and in late July we finally arrived. We had spent many nights researching the island online before getting there and as we are all keen hikers the idea of trekking to Magic Green Pool just west of Milopotamos was top of our list. We had even watched the You Tube footage. The reality unfortunately was both a disappointment and a serious health risk. After an arduous trek, when we finally got to the less than magic pool we found a toxic waste hole. The problem is the summer water tides do not rise high enough to wash the pool clean. This along with sea-anemones made the pool undesirable to swim in. As we trekked back, we found the Greek-speaking group in front of us were even less unfortunate. One of the teenage girls in the family party had had a fit and fainted. As a paramedic with over 29 years experience, I examined her. From her pulse I suspected that shed had a massive panic attack. There was a lot of action on mobile phones and then the strongest male loaded her on his back and carried her back over the 2kms of rocks to an ambulance. It turns out that if there is an accident, first aid services can only meet you at a paved road. While the less than Magical Green Pool turned out to be a waste of time, the village dances were fantastic!

Name withheld upon request, Sydney, Australia.

THANK YOU

L O V E K Y T H E R A , L O V E K Y T H E R A S U M M E R E D I T I O N

ABOUT USFounding Publisher - Metaxia (Sia) Georgopoulou is a big-picture person. Having worked in Australia as a Press Secretary and Advisor to Government ministers and parliamentarians, her return to her parental homeland gave birth to Kythera Summer Edition. With a passion for justice and enormous experience in community politics both in Australia and Greece, Sia is the pow-erhouse that brings Kythera Summer Edition to annual fruition. Sia is married to Dimitris Kyriakopoulos and they have a sixteen year old son, Alexandros.

Editor - Deborah Parsons has been coming to the island every summer for the last 28 years which tells you how much she loves the place. Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, Deborah regards Kythera as her second home. Over the years she has worked as an archaeologist, a stone tool illustrator, a musician, a graphic artist and (finally) as a writer. This last career is the one that stuck. She writes scripts for film and television. She recently wrote the libretto for her first opera.

Feature Writer - Anna Cominos is a seasoned Festival Organ-iser. She works for the Sydney Comedy Festival, the Greek Fes-tival of Sydney and the Antipodes Festival in Melbourne as well as the iconic Enmore Theatre. Anna studied dramatic art and has performed in television and theatre productions in Australia and Greece. Annas Kytherian ancestry has inspired her writings for Kythera Summer Edition for the last twenty three years.

Writer - Anna Giabanidis is a happily elusive Greek/English hybrid who finds profound comfort in Kytheras natural beauty and isolation. A graduate of British and European Laws, Anna has shunned life as a lawyer and is now a freelance academic writer of law, politics and philosophy. Yet she is unable to shun her restless nature and artistic flair and also indulges in art as well as her flower, fruit and vegetable gardens. Inspired by its natural beauty, Anna constantly seeks new ways to spread the beauty of Kythera.

Artist - Daphne Petrohilos studied at the Chicago Art Insti-tute in the United States and has held exhibitions in Dublin, London, Athens and Kythera. An artist in all aspects of her life, Daphne creates beautiful objects be it crocheting lace, weav-ing a hat or cement-rendering a wall at her traditional house in Broggi.

Artist - Aspasia Patty was born in Australia and studied art in Brisbane where she teaches and paints full-time. She has taken part in workshops and tutorials under several master painters and has participated in solo and joint exhibitions in Australia and internationally. Her commissioned portrait of the much loved Kytherian identity, the late Father Efthimio, hangs in the monastery of Agia Moni. Kythera has profoundly influenced her artistic journey and continues to do so.

Writer - Pia Panaretos is a social anthropologist whose land rights work with Australian indigenous communities of the North-ern Territory propelled her to research her own cultural heritage in a similar bid for heritage preservation. Her ancestors migra-tion 120 years ago necessitated a return to Kythera, for which she was fortunate to spend two years living through the seasons pursuing participant-observation fieldwork on the anthropology of religion and the migration of spirituality.

Writer - Cameron Webb first came to Kythera as a 14 year old and was instantly enamoured. Even though he has lived in many different countries over the years, it still remains the only place he wishes to call home. He currently lives and works in Sydney where he spends much of his time daydreaming of Kythera.

Photographer - Venia Karolidou has worked as a freelance travel reporter for magazines and newspapers and has taken part in many exhibitions. For Venia above all is light. The light that defines the view (look) and the style of each photographer. Her first time to Kythera was many years ago. She loved the place and she visits very often, all seasons. The particular light of the island, the shapes of clouds, the ruins and colour of the sea are an eternal source of inspiration.

Writer - Jean Bingen is a retired civil engineer who first worked with the World Council of Churches Kythera Team in 1962 as a technical student with the Dutch delegation. In 1965 he returned to work as a civil engineer with the Team. Jean met his wife Ina in Livadi in 1966, when she was also a volunteer. After the death of WCC group leader George Koksma in 2004, Jean archived his work relating to the twelve-year period the WCC Kythera Team was working on the island.

kse.1993@yahoo.gr

from left: Tiana Comino, Elissa Comino, Miranda Kerr and Nikita Comino outside the Alexandros Onassis aiport in Kythera.

kapsalikytherafacebook.com/chrysopsaro

t: 27360.31032

EDITORIALTHERE IS A CONSENSUS IN EUROPE among economists that the fourth programme of austerity measures imposed on Greece will fail to kick-start the economy and will do little for development, job creation and the revival of small commercial enterprises, which close one after the other or are on the brink of closure. AS IN ALL STRUGGLES, conflicts and wars -and today Greece is at economic war- it is the ordinary people who suffer, who lose their jobs, their dignity, who have their lives stripped from them. Doctors and hospital staff at public hospitals work in disgraceful, overcrowded conditions, lacking essential medical resources while patients are asked to buy gauze and pharmaceutical supplies. Public schools are short of teaching staff, government bureaucracy has become anything but streamlined and workers in the private sector have lost their right to a dignified existence, constantly faced with exploitation, insecurity and the threat of unemployment. To cap it all off, the countrys defiled legal system allows murderers, drug dealers and paedophiles to roam free while people who cant pay their ENFIA (property tax) have their homes seized. THIS COUNTRY IS NOW LIVING through its sixth successive year of economic recession. Greeces debt level is already so large it is a fiscal impossibility that it can ever be paid off. This is a debt that will be on the head of every child for generations to come. Thousands have fled the country to find job stability and a fulfilling life else-where for lack of opportunities here in Greece. Figures translate into numbers of a people learning to live with poverty. One million, six hundred thousand Greek people live below the poverty line - 15% of the population. Wages and pensions continue to be cut reducing household income by one quarter and this is coupled by the shameful fact that the Government has signed away Greeces sovereignty. Henceforth, the countrys wealth, government utili-ties and properties, will be controlled by the Troika (EC, IMF & ECB) and Brussels for 99 years. AND YET WHILE THOUSANDS OF GREEKS are fleeing the country for economic reasons, every day thousands more have been flooding in seeking political asylum. Coming predominantly from Syria, 38% of these refugees are children, many of them unaccompanied. Their homes destroyed, culture decimated, family and friends killed, fear-ing for their lives, desperately seeking a future for themselves and their children, these people flee from a country at war (a war that has the silent blessing of the worlds major powers) to Greece, a country that can barely support itself. THE MAJORITY OF THESE DISPLACED PEOPLE want nothing more than to be reunited with family in Germany, Austria, Britain and elsewhere. Instead they find themselves trapped in Greece, living in inhumane conditions in refugee camps (re-named "hot-spots" to misguide public opinion about the tragic truth) that are rife with problems, and often controlled by Mafia style criminal gangs. The problem can only get worse. The much-criticized agreement be-tween a hostile European Union and a hard-line, politically unstable Turkey has finally been initiated. Thousands of people are trapped here with no solution in sight while more countries are likely to toughen their migration policies, especially after Britains exit from the EU. Against its will, Greece now finds itself in the position of gatekeeper for the rest of Europe with little in the way of necessary resources and expertise to carry out this role imposed on them. AFTER TWO WORLD WARS and millions of lives sacrificed in the name of peace, the European Union was created, its member nations unit-ing in a desire for peace, social justice and economic prosperity for all. There would be no more closed borders, EU citizens would have the freedom to journey from state to state, country to country. Now, the EU has collapsed at its first major crisis.GREEKS WITH THEIR HISTORY of oppression, forced population ex-changes and immigration, understand more than most what it is to be a refugee. These same Greeks, who have been maligned by so many and abused by the Troika, have done what other countries in Europe have not. They have opened their hearts and their homes, they have given generously of their time, their hospitality, what little money they have. With their innate sense of justice, the Greek people have put aside their own troubles to help their fellow man and volunteered on a hitherto unknown scale. KYTHERA UNDERSTANDS OPPRESSION and forced population ex-changes, migration, and what it is to be a refugee. Whenever you meet a Kytherian with the surname Sklavos, you are meeting a direct descendant of a Kytherian sold into slavery by Turkish and Al-gerian pirates. History here is a part of everyday life. It is this history we are paying homage to in this special issue of Kythera Summer Edition by declaring 2016 to be the KSE year of archaeology.DESPITE THEIR SPIRIT OF RESILIENCE, Greek people have been left with no hope of escaping their current predicament. Perhaps his-tory might prove to be our liberating weapon, our thrust towards the future. If we fathom and protect our history from desecration and appropriation, could an impassioned recollection of the past, at least here on Kythera, be our guide to a sovereign future? A future built on historic walking paths, on Byzantine churches and Vene-tian castles, on Minoan tombs and peak sanctuaries, on Phoenician caves and fossil remains? The first step to a bright new future for the island begins with our newly-inaugurated world class museum, the Archaeological Museum of Kythera, which showcases our past and preserves our heritage for future generations.

HISTORICAL NOTEby Stavros Paspalas

KYTHERA HOLDS a special place in the Western imagi-nationan island haven of Aphrodite, a place of ease and pleasure. Known to many, this stereotype finds its roots in Antiquity and has often been applied, from the Middle Ages onwards, for a wide range of purposes that varied from serving the territorial aspira-tions of Kytheras Venetian overlords to supplying an idyllic theme for French Ba-roque painters (...)(...) A recurrent feature of the history of the island (...) is the interplay between life on Ky-thera and the impact exerted on its inhabitants by external forces and the locals reaction to them: the creative inter-action between a Mediter-ranean island and the wider world. Depending on where one stood (and stands) on the island one could (and can) see the south-eastern and south-central Peloponnese (all the way to Mt. Taigetos in Lako-nia), Antikythera and Crete to the south, andso one is toldunder particularly clear conditions Melos in the Cycla-des. Kytheras position made it a refuge in times of need or, indeed, a stepping-stone, as well as allowing its inhab-itants to be drawn abroad when conditions elsewhere were deemed more favour-able than those on the island itself.(...) Kythera also has its off-is-land history, more often than not enmeshed with the Aph-rodites haven theme. So it is that the island appears in an amazing map mosaic of the late third or early fourth cen-tury AD at Ammaedara, south of Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia) in which it shares the field in a sea dominated by the locales of major sanctuaries of the goddessa deity who, it should be remembered, also had important duties pertain-ing to fair sailing as evidenced by one of her many epithets: Euploia. In this mosaic the is-lands mythological persona knits with its position in the Mediterranean. And a safe passage round the south-eastern prong of the Pelo-ponnese, directly opposite Kytheras northern shores, with its treacherous waters was of utmost importance to mariners for millennia. Here let it suffice simply to recall the second-century ad funer-ary inscription at ancient Hi-erapolis (modern Pamukkale in western Turkey), in which a certain Flavius Zeuxis boasts of having successfully sailed the dangerous waters that washed our islands northern coast 72 (!) times.

Excerpt from the Foreword to the recently published book The Archaeology of Kythera by Timo-thy E. Gregory and Lita Tzortzo-poulou-Gregory.

G R E E C E : W H E N W I L L I T R I S E F R O M I T S A S H E S ?

INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT FOR THE REPATRIATION

OF LOOTED GREEK ANTIQUITIES

www.iamgreek.gr

I WAS BORN IN GREECE

MY SISTERS ARE THERE

SUMMER SPORTING FACILITIES, CLASSES AND VENUES

FOOTBALL Coach Petros Galanakis provides Kytherian children from 4 to 18 with academy style coaching at the Magiros Sports Complex in Kato Livadi. Petros is an accredited Australian coach who has coached at senior and representative level. Tel 6981.652399 for more information.

YOGA Kiros Tzannes runs Ashtanga and V inyasa yoga classes at Kondolian-ika several times a week. You can contact Kiros for times and information on 6972.510279

AIKEIDO K iros Tzannes runs Aikeido classes at Kon-dolianika. Contact Kiros for times and information on 6972.510279

TENNIS Kato Livadi, the Magiros Sports Complex

Kato L ivad i , pr ivate court avai lable for hire f rom Andreas Louran-dos Te l 27360.31761 / 6977.682548

Agia Pelagia, Marrou Hotel. Tel 27360.33466, 6974.812522

BIKE RIDING Rent bicycles for the day or week from Pa-nayotis Motorent. Contact Panayotis for availability and rates on 27360.31600 / 6944.263757

SAILING LESSONS The Sail-ing Association of Kythera organizes lessons from the beginning of July to 20 Au-gust. Contact the Associa-tion President Kosta Belba on 6932.042066. Donations to the Association are very welcome.

SWIMMING LESSONS The Swimming Association of Kythera run swimming pro-grams in Kapsali and Avlem-onas in July and August. Contact Kostas Belbas on 6932.042066

SCUBA DIVING WATER COURSES Kythera Dive Centre at Kapsali. Instruc-tion by George Lampoglou. Just for fun or acquire cer-tification as a Scuba, Open Water, Advanced Open Wa-ter or Rescue Diver and Di-vemaster. Tel 27360.37400, 6944.314152

TRAINING IN MARTIAL ARTS FROM 20-24 JULY training in Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Karate, M.M.A., Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, Capoeira, Yoga, Meditation and more all over Kythera. Trainers from Greece and abroad.Information: George Zantiotis 6970.964.467e-mail: geobukan@gmail.com

GEO WALKSDISCOVER, exp lore and photograph spectacular Kytherian phenomena which are part of the geological heritage of Kythera with

geologist Markos Megaloikonomos.

, , , - . GEO WALKS with Markos Megaloikonomos. Tel 6973.212898

S U M M E R A D V E N T U R E S

EXPLORE DREAM DISCOVER DIVE

KAPSALI'S NEWEST VENTURE goes underwater! Explore Kytheras underwater landscape. Kytheras crystal clear waters make it the perfect place to discover underwater nature: nudibranches, invertebrates, crabs, shrimp, seahorses, sea turtles and, if youre lucky, dolphins. Sea turtles and dolphins love the clear Kytherian waters.Experience the Kytherian underwater world with diving instructor George Lampoglou at the Kythera Dive Centre in Kapsali. He and his experienced

team of divers will train you and take you on a tour of some of the best diving sites in Greece. Explore the underwater caverns and canyons and stunning rock formations. As you dive marvel at the cuttlefish and octopi. You can choose to have a single dive experience for the day or, if you like, you can complete and earn your PADI Open Water Diver Certificate which allows you to dive anywhere in the world! Enrol the kids* in a course at Kapsali while you relax and laze on the

beach or chill out at one of Kapsalis many cafes or tavernas. Theyll have fun as they discover the underwater world of Kythera. * All children must be over 10 years of age. Kythera Dive Centre, Tel: 27360-37400 or 6944-314172

THE MAGIROS SPORTS COMPLEXLOCATED IN KATO LIVADI this stunning new complex has been funded by Mr Peter Magiros of Fruitex Australia. The complex includes a grass football field with a walking track around the perimeter, a tennis court and a basket ball court. It is also equipped with change rooms and toilets. The complex has been a major contribution to the island, affording Kytherians the opportunity to enjoy athletic and sports options that previously didnt exist.Access to the facilities: Keys to the Complex are available from Theodori Caravousanos at Toxotis Taverna in Livadi, Tel 27360.31785. When you return the keys, please note that a small donation for the upkeep of the sports complex would be appreciated.

ORGANISED OUTDOOR TOURS ADVENTURES AND EXCURSIONS PYRGOS HOUSE OFFERS A RANGE OF ACTIVITIES. For infor-mation go to the Pyrgos House office in Potamos, opposite the

Lariotissa church, or contact Frank van Weerde on 6989.863140. You can choose from the following activities.

CANYONING Adventurous tours through Kakia Lagada Gorge and Koufogialo.

MOUNTAIN BIKING Tour 1 Easy and Relaxing or Tour 2 Strenuous and Adventurous.Biking tours get underway after a briefing by Pyrgos House guide Alexis.

SEA KAYAK TOURS Explore Ky-thera from the sea. Paddle along rugged coastline, float near caves, relax on a deserted beach for a

picnic. Beaches visited are accessible only by kayak or boat. All pristine, natural and pure.

WALK WITH FRANK Guided walks by Frank van Weerde in spring and autumn. Summer walks in June, July and August.

GLASS BOTTOM BOAT

EXPLORE KYTHERAS SECLUDED BEACHES with Spiros Cassimatis in Alexandros, the Glass Bottom Boat. Explore the coastline of Kythera with Captain Spiro or perhaps take one of his regular sea excursions to Elafonissos award winning Simos beach, Anti-kythera and Neapolis. Discover the pisoyialo (west coast) where you can swim at remote coves. And whatever you do, dont leave Kythera without a sea excursion to Hitra - the Egg - the rock that rises so dramatically from the sea south of Kapsali. This rock has a life form of its

own. The final stop before Europe and Africa, it is a place where many rare migrating birds gather. At Hitra Spiro will anchor his boat, allowing you to snorkel and discover the brilliant underwater sea life.

Alexandros Glass Bottom Boat. Tel: 6974-022079 Prior reservation is nec-essary.

The vision Stavroula Fatsea once dreamed of creating an Ecological Park on Kythera. While this dream never came true, it triggered the creation of the present blog in which she has recorded over 200 plants. Working together with her students at the High School, she has created a small Botanic Garden where they have planted and followed the growth of

50 kinds of Mediterranean ecosystems.

Wishing on a star This blog opens a unique window to the islands rare and unexplored plants and vegetation. When you read it, you are sure to become more observant and, most importantly, keen to protect these treasures. And perhaps one day we will be able to visit an Ecological Park and/or a Museum of Natural History that will safeguard all the seeds and plants and mosses from the land where the Creator has planted them. As the famous painter Henri Matisse once said, there are always flowers for those who want to see them.

Marianna Halkia Loupa

Helens Polygala The po lyga l a f ami l y includes more than 500 impressively attractive species. Botanist Lineos

gave the name to the plants derived from the Greek word meaning a lot of milk implying that the animals fed by these plants produce a lot of milk. Helens Polygala is strictly endemic. Discov-ered in the 60s, it is one of the most endangered species in the Mediterra-nean. Some varieties are used as a medical alter-native to jingjeng. The plants root supposedly empowers the will and urge of man to achieve high goals and help him get rid of old habits and tendencies.

F L O R A C Y T H E R E A

KYTHERAS SECRET WEALTH: ITS UNIqUE FLORAA stroll through the delicate online path created by Stavroula Fatsea

THERE IS SOMETHING SO SIMPLE and natural and beauti-ful in Kythera that is simultaneously rich and mysterious and unique. We tend to overlook those green and colourful fields with their stone walls covered in wonderfully wild, small strange plants that we hardly notice. The most beautiful things become invis-ible to our eye. The more we take for granted the less we see. And it seems we miss a lot. Kythera is blessed with close to 800 different kinds of flowers, plants and mosses. There is an arsenal of nature planted in our backyard that we know nothing about. But there is thankfully someone who appreciates and deeply loves all these little unexplored treasures. Ms. Stavroula Fatsea has developed an impressive blog on the flora of Kythera that is well worth looking at: http://floracytherea.blogspot.gr

Ms Stavroula Fatsea, Principal of the Chora High School and French teacher, has always been attracted to the uniqueness and beauty of the islands plants. She records every single plant, small or big, whether wild or endemic. She observes them in detail, takes notes and pictures, succinctly maps their locations, researches,

translates the Latin into Greek, looks up the relevant terminol-ogy, makes up new ones where necessary. Since her college days, Stavroula has been actively involved in ecology and alternative forms of cultivation and sustainability. She started writing her blog in 2010 because so few of us know the priceless value of the islands flora and through this igno-rance do little to protect it. In 2003 she began taking photographs of flowers in bloom which she tried to identify. As she searched for local names, Stavroula realized that even the older people knew little about this flora. So she eagerly began to study scientific books and specialized internet sources. As she strongly believes that information should be widely disseminated, she puts no restrictions whatsoever on copy-ing or sharing her blog. Just a reference to the source will be enough. FloraCytherea.blogspot is a compilation of information. Beauti-fully written, here science is mingled with history, botany with medicine and mythology with geography, leaving the reader with a complete sense of familiarity with the species. It is well worth taking a stroll through the pages.

In Critical Danger Centaurea redempta ssp cytherea is a wonderful furze. An endangered species, it is found only in the Chora Castle. It is one of the six most local-ized plants. Unaware of its rarity and importance, each year when the Castle area was cleaned up, the plant used to be abruptly removed. Stavroula Fatsea spoke to the Castle management, urging them to take action. The response was immediate and positive.

Spring seductress and 60 more kinds

The island is a paradise for land or-chids. International botanists have recorded more than 60 varieties of them. Stavroula Fatsea has made a comprehensive map of the loca-tion, complete with accurate coor-dinates, where each one is found.A wonderful little orchid as de-scribed by Bauman and Bauman in 2005, a special sub-category of ophrys candica. Endemic. Blossoms end of March until end of May.

Kingdom of fungi

Since 2012 Mrs Fatsea has been conducting an extensive study of the exquis ite and almost unknown world of fungi and mushrooms. Unfor-tunately, she says, there are no fungi or mush-room collectors inter-ested in anything but the edible varieties.

, Kytherian Skoutelaria

Kapsali Kythera 27360 37200 6977 865162

Restaurant

JUST A SPECIAL ISLAND

by Deborah Parsons

FRANK VAN WEERDE is one of those people you always seem to bump into. Wherever you are on the island - the market, the beach, a cultural event, a walking trail, a christening, a wed-ding - its odds on you will cross paths with Frank. Frank leads tours, he runs walks, he dances with the local folkloric group, he organises workshops and events. Frank does everything, he goes everywhere. He probably knows the island better than anyone else I know.Frank and his partner first visited the island in 1991. After visiting regularly, they moved here permanently in 2003. I asked Frank why Kythera was so special to him. From the first moment we got to know Kythera, in 1991, I was (and still am) impressed by its ordinary way of life. Nothing is made more special than it actually is. It is as simple as it seems. This is what I love. When people asked me why I liked Kythera that much, I always answered (and still answer): because it is just an ordinary island. Thats why it is so special: you get what you see. Nothing more, nothing less. Straight and honest. Nothing fake.Over the years, during the course of his work as a host for Ross Holidays, Frank transcribed three short interviews he had done with three locals, each of whom was living in one of the villages where Dutch guests were accommodated (Avlemonas, Agia Pelagia and Platia Ammos). The interviews were simply a way for tourists to get an insight into the local people and local way of life. The response to these interviews was so enthusias-tic it inspired Frank to pursue the idea further. And so after he left Ross Holidays in 2010 he conducted more interviews, only this time longer and more in depth. He selected his subjects on the basis of topography as he wanted a broad cross section of people from across the island. As he was also keen to discuss a wide range of topics such as culture, archaeology, daily life, the Greek education system, migration (to and from the island), tradition, religion, recipes, etc, this also influenced his selec-tion process. It took him two years to collect and write up all the interviews.Based on the success of the Dutch edition published in 2012, Frank decided to publish a Greek and English version as well

giving more people the oppor-tunity to read personal stories about Kythera. The book will appeal to Greece-lovers in general and Kythera-lovers in particular. The response from Dutch and Belgian readers has been hugely enthusiastic. They loved the way the islands cul-ture, history and daily life was explained by such a diverse range of locals, all from totally different backgrounds and families.KYTHIRA, jusT A specIAl IslAnd by Frank van Weerde available

from the Bibliogatos, Aerostato & Aiolos bookshops and tourist shops on the island or online: www.pyrgoshouse.com

they became. As Lorraine said, "The process we have embraced here is fantastic".Sue was always available to talk about writing. For the fifteen days we were to-gether, writing became our constant occupation and topic of conversation, and nobody left Kythera without having produced something substantial, something de-lightfully unexpected.The last two nights of the course took place at the Neos Kosmos restaurant in Agia Pelagia. These were the nights of the readings; the time when our students were finally allowed to share their work with each other, accompanied by the sound of the waves breaking on the shore, and by good food and drink. Since their return at least two of our students have won prizes in national competitions. As our other Peter said I was expecting a lot, and I got far more than I expect-ed. Indeed, so much so, that he came to the course a second time. So did the island live up to its promise? Well, when we met for a course reunion, Sue and I canvassed the notion of spreading our wings a bit and running the course someplace else. The response was unanimous only in Kythera. Please feel free to explore our website. www.writing-ingreece.com

A N I S L A N D O F I N S P I R A T I O N

WE ARRIVED IN KYTHERA IN THE SPRING. Poppies lined the roads, and gi-ant dandelions, which counted time in centuries rather than hours, glowed in the evening light as if they had been made out of spun glass. Narcissus, irises, anemones, crocuses, hyacinths and violets tumbled down the mountains, crowded the olive trees, invaded the orchards and made the gullies bloom. They lay over the countryside like antique embroideries, and large delicate heads of Queen Anns lace resembled tablecloths crocheted by old ladies for their granddaughters glory boxes which had been spread out over the grass to dry. The air, soft like velvet, was full of the smell of sage.About nine months earlier, I had suggested to my friend, Sue Woolfe, that Kythera might be a suitable place to run a writers retreat like those she had done in Tuscany, India and Havana for Sydney University. I had participated in one of her courses, and knew the quality of her teaching. However, look-ing back, I dont think I had fully appreciated the personal risk I was taking. Kythera offers a rich Minoan history, unsurpassed natural beauty and has provided artistic inspiration to writers, musicians and artists; but more than that, its my refuge, and here I was proposing to run a business there. Nine people from different backgrounds joined us on our first writers retreat. Ranging in age from 21 to 82, they all came from Australia, from as far afield as Darwin, Perth, High Country of Victoria, and Sydney. They came to an island they had never heard of, because they had done courses with Sue before, and knew what to expect. But we were untried, my island and I, and since my job was all about the logistics, there was room for disaster. Despite having visited the island the year before and settled on what we con-sidered would be suitable accommodation, at the last minute the negotiations fell apart. As it turned out, it was an incredible stroke of luck. The amazing Telis Prineas came to our rescue taking us to The Pantonia Apartments sitting high up the hill, at the back of Agia Pelagia. Every unit has the same view,

which comprises of Cape Maleas and the mainland, and a stretch of sea where, impossibly, the sun both rises and sets. Each apart-ment has its own kitchen, reverse cycle air-condition-ing, is well furnished and conducive to writing. We had exp lo i ted the shoulder season in order to get better prices and to enjoy the island in its un-spoiled, tourist-free state. This worked to our advan-tage in other unexpected ways. Springtime brought changeable weather, offer-ing moody drives through shifting mists. The smell of wood smoke vied with the perfume of orange blos-

soms, and talkative frogs inhabited tiny dams, called voskinas. The winter hibernation was over, and we arrived just after Easter, so the locals were pleased to see us. Agia Pelagias stretch of cafes and bars, all of which open directly onto the beach, quickly cottoned on to our presence and subtly competed for our custom. Dessert and a glass of tsipouro, a harsh and fiery local spirit, were on the house. The course took place over fifteen days, of which eight mornings were spent in formal classes, with afternoons and evenings free. Some participants used that time to work on their stories, others though, hired cars and got around the island on their own, soaking in the light, finding the stories hidden in the landscape, and letting the island inspire them. As Peter said, It was magi-cal.The Pantonia became our exclusive domain and was soon enveloped by an air of storytelling as the group incorporated Sues creativity techniques into their own practice. These are techniques, which have been shown by studies from Stanford University to enhance creativity by up to 30%. Certainly all our participants found them effective and comments like I never knew I was creative! were typical. The more our students wrote, the more enthusiastic

Sue Woolfe is the best-selling award-winning author of four novels, Painted Woman (Ran-dom House), Leaning Towards Infinity (Pan Macmillan), The Secret Cure (UWA) and The Old-est Song in the World (Harper Collins). She has adapted two of these to the stage, where they have been performed professionally in major Austral-ian theatres to critical acclaim and sell-out audiences, as well as on ABC radio. And now, with Australia Council funding, she is adapting The Secret Cure to an opera - her first libretto. She has just finished a short story collection. Her fascination with how the creating mind works led to her doctorate, The Mystery of the Cleaning Lady: A Writer Looks at Creativity and Neuroscience (UWA Press). She has taught this at Sydney University (9 years) and now at The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). www.suewoolfe.com.au

RUNNING A WRITER'S RETREAT N KYTHERAby Kiriaki Orfanos, Sydney-based writer and teacher, author of Kythera from the Air

Panos N. KalligerosLivadi and Chora, Kythera, tel. 27360 37077

The cat enjoys lazing on the beach reading the best books!

... !

THE NEW WORLD IN KYTHERA

by Anna Cominos

YOU COULD EASILY THINK Agia Pelagia is just the strip of beach opposite the shops. The Neos Kosmos (New World) side however is deck chair free, making for lots of family fun. As the title of the settlement suggests, Neos Kosmos came into existence when Agia Pelagias land was parcelled off. The long strip of Neos Kosmos beach is to the right when you reach the waters edge of Agia Pelagia. Here the landmark Panaretos Rock juts dramatically out of the blue sea. While youll need to take along a beach umbrella for shade, the long pebble beach faces Cavo Malia (Cape Maleas) on the Peloponnese mainland, offering infinite views of mountains and coastline and for sea-faring enthusiasts a steady traffic of passing ships.The beach sits by the road opposite the Neos Kosmos eatery. With its spectacular views, Neos Kosmos, operated by Dimitri and Anna, is simply the best hamburger joint on the island. Offering a simple menu along with whatever delicious dish Anna cooks up in one of her saucepans, Neos Kosmos gives beach-goers a hearty, economic meal. But remember, wash the sand off your feet before going in! Shady trees and wonderful views of the Aegean sea can be enjoyed by guests at the family operated Maneas Beach Hotel where supermodel, Miranda Kerr, stayed last year. The Maneas was her Kytherian hideaway. She had booked her personally selected balcony room here months in advance. The locals became accustomed to seeing her stretch limousine parked under the tamarisk trees! Located directly opposite the waters edge, this part of Neos Kosmos beach is sandy, making it very popular with families. When the sun starts to set, head to the Maneas Beach Hotel for a frappe or ice-cream treat just as Miranda might have done.As the road winds along you come to a tiny church surrounded by rock walls. This is the site of the original Agia Pelagia church. The original mosaic church floor still survives today. The church was destroyed and two people killed while trying to remove dynamite from a sea-mine during World War II. While the locals went on to build a large church in the heart of Agia Pelagia, a tiny replica of the original church remained as a memorial, where candles are still lit nightly. Across the way from this tiny church is a sea ramp used for launch-ing boats and jet-skis. A small bay that has wheel chair access ends the sleepy Neos Kosmos strip. Less of a parking nightmare than the main beach of Agia Pelagia, Neos Kosmos is certainly a place not to be missed.

R E L O C A T I N G T H E H E A R T O F T H E S U N

- . - . - (.: 2736-0-31124). Open every day all day! - (.: 2736-0-31402). .

KATO LIVADI, TEL.: 2736-0-31124

RETURN TO THE VILLAGE FEATURE WRITER ANNA COMINOS has been a part-time resident of Kythera for almost twenty-five years. A regular contributor to Kythera Summer Edition, it was a natural progression that she would write about her time on her ancestral island, the people she met, the things she learnt, and the recipes and wisdom that were shared with her.The island of Kythera is the birthplace of Annas forefathers. Her grandparents never left the island, and so Anna took the opportunity to live in the same village where her grandmother used to live in Agia Pelagia. She chronicles these days in Return to the Village. The book re-interprets a twenty-year period from the pre-digital nineties to the post-modern era of today. It is a vivid account of a period in Greek village life that transitions from pre-crisis to post-crisis. Return to the Village is a colourful almanac that pieces together the timelessness of Kythera and contemporary island foods and events. It is both a hedonists guide to Kythera and a journal of remarkable information. The resulting book, Return to Kythera, is over twenty years in the making. To celebrate Annas twenty-five years of living on Kythera, Kythera Summer Edition presents a sneak preview of Return to the Village, available from May 2017.

The SideboardThe sideboard sat silently in the main room of the humble village home, oblivious to the noisy comings and goings of my yiayia Dimitra and her tribe. The large upright sideboard or buffet as she called it had been hand-carved by yiayia Dimitras master craftsman father-in-law as a wedding present and she displayed it proudly. It was the centre of her universe, always there to lend a silent hand. The eye-level glass doors proudly displayed her sunflower din-ing set, her other wedding present. The wooden shelves were lined with crocheted universal mandalas. The three shelves were filled with a juxtaposed chaos of drinking glasses and an immaculately presented international bonbonniere collection (christening gifts, usually ceramic statuettes) from the various christenings and weddings she had not been present at. The glass cabinet sat at waist level on the sideboard, my grandfather (papou) Georgos dusty brown leather-bound portable transistor radio rested in the left hand corner. He would at different times in the day tune into short-wave news services in alien languages, returning him to the high seas of his merchant sailing days. Between the waist-height top of the buffet and the draw-ers and cupboard doors, was a pull-out table top. Here my mother Matina and her siblings would study by candlelight nightly. In moments of boredom, several of the siblings had engraved their name in the mahogany table-top. My mother

swears it was the boys who had figured out a system of deceit. By pulling out the drawers, the children could get to the booty of sweets in the locked cupboards. In the drawers yiayia Dimitra kept her precious cookbook. Full of family and neigh-bours recipes, the back of the cookbook was a journal and almanac. Here yiayia Dimitra documented all her children leaving for Austral-ia, their marriages, the birth of her grandchildren on the other side of the planet and of course the much-antici-pated return of her children with grandchildren in tow. If the Buffet was her Sun, then the cookbook carefully laid in the right hand drawer was the heart of her world.

Return to the Village by Anna Cominos. For information you can email Anna atkytherasummer@hotmail.com

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PHOTO BY CHRISSA FATSEAS

In a restored 200 year old mill Maria bakes

her delicious traditional sweets (loukoumades, rosedes,

xerotigana, spoon sweets). Visit the restored flour mill

and see how the centuries old machinery operated.

, (, , , ). .

KALOKAIRINES tel. 27360 31188

open 9.30 a.m. - 8.00 p.m. every day

Shop in CHORA tel. 27360 31678 caf Maria's sweets & more

LIVADI tel. 27360 39077

ROUSSOS CERAMIC WORKSHOP

FAIRTRADE PRODUCTSAEROSTATO in Kondolianika and AIOLOS in Chora both sell Fairtrade products made from recycled materials wherever possible. They also promote and sell works made by artists and artisans from Greece and abroad. Both shops stock handmade and Fairtrade gifts and a lot, lot more. Lets all make our world better.

A R C H I V E O F S O U N D S

THE SOUND OF KYTHERA: A JOURNEY TO KYTHERA THROUGH SOUND

by Dionysis Anemogiannis

WHAT DOES KYTHERA SOUND LIKE? Is it the bleats and whines of the goats climbing their way up to Palaiochora through the gorges of history and myth? Or is it the sound of the fishermen as they tie up their boats in the little port of Avlemonas in peak season? It could even be the sound of the church bells chiming in synch to honour the holy icon of Myrtidiotissa when the celebratory litany takes place 40 days before Easter. Sounds of people, sounds of nature and echoes from the mythical and historic past - these are the elements that make the sound of Kythera so unique. It is these elements that are the basis of the project: The Sound of Kythera.The Sound of Kythera (SoKy) is a multilevel cultural and learning project that takes advantage of the new media technologies in order to explore the field of cultural heritage in novel ways. The aim of the programme is to present the cultural heritage and distinct identity of Kythera in a fresh and creative way:

through the most character-istic sounds and stories of the island. These sounds are proc-essed and pinned on a sound-map application, namely a digital map of Kythera, where every location is represented by its characteristic sounds. This innovative platform is now accessible to users at the "Alexandros Onassis" Airport of Kythera where it is hosted as a touch-screen installation. For those not in Kythera, the

sound-map is available through the Sound of Kytheras website (www.sound-ofkythera.com). More than just a cultural initiative, The Sound of Kythera also has the values of a learning programme at its core. To this end the project involved a group of

thirteen students from the high school of Kythera who worked together during the design and implementation phase of the programme. Starting December 2015, when the project kicked off , the student group committed itself to a regu-lar series of meetings and learning workshops that later led them to a series of

field recordings and inter-views around the island. In order to achieve their goals, the student group worked closely both with artistic collectives from Athens as well as with the technical partners that gave them tools to work on their project. Partners like Medea Electronique, Akoo-o and the NGO Hellenic Ornitho-logical Society along with local supporters all greatly helped our team to realise its goals.In May 2016 The Sound of Kythera completed its first

Sound of Kythera is seeking a fluent Greek/English speaker interested in helping translate texts for the sound map (Greek to English). If you know someone you think might be interested, please ask them to contact us.We are also seeking assistance from people involved in Kyth-erian Associations who could bring The Sound of Kythera to Kytherian communities all over the world.

phase, the program was officially presented by the student group at the stART festival in Thessaloniki and the sound map application installed at Kytheras airport. Having achieved all these goals in just six months, the Sound of Kythera team now seeks to extend the program and multiply its impact. Over the following months we plan to further grow our database with the inclusion of the sounds of summer on Kythera along with the creation of the first digital oral history archive of Kythera featuring stories from the island narrated by locals.Finally, we plan to broadcast our sound beyond Kythera, creat-ing fraternal cultural and learning projects around the world wherever Kytherians can be found. If you are interested in the whole sense experience of Kythera stay tuned to the Sound of Kythera because the sound is but a means to communicate your passion. The Sound of Kythera is supported by the Robert Bosch Founda-tion in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Thessaloniki and the German Association of Sociocultural Centres.www. soundofkythera.com, facebook.com/The-Sound-of-Kythera-230737023934419/?fref=ts, http://soundofkythera.tumblr.com/

INSTITUTE OF KYTHERAISMOS7th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM of Kytheraismos

Kythera (Myrtidia, Chora, Fratsia, Potamos) 18-21 August 2016. R e g i o n a l K y t h e r a i s m o s : The global Kytherian Regions (The new dimension of the Kytherian region) Information: President Elias Marsellos,

210 4599414, e-mail: kytheraismos@gmail.com

OUR PAST IS OUR FUTURE

by Paula (Angella) Karydis

IN 1973, I CAME TO KYTHERA to live with my grandparents, Kosma and Athena Karydis, in the village of Kato Chora. Back then it was still a produc-tive village, despite the loss of many of its inhabitants to Europe, Australia and America. I have vivid memories of my grandmother and her friends mak-ing cheese and soap or fetching cold water from the underground spring. I remember the villagers gathering around the communal wash trough and tending their meticulously cultivated gardens and fields. When I return to Ky-thera I am fondly reminded of these scenes. The village of course has changed dramatically, families have moved on, former occupants have passed away. The village of Kato Chora has been left waiting patiently for a revival.

When I came to the island last July, my heart sank. Properties left idle and untended for decades have now decayed beyond recognition. The house that once stood so grandly at the entrance to the village, once so admired for its architecture and sheer scale, is now derelict, struggling against age and the elements to remain erect. To its right, a less opulent house that until recently was structurally sound and solid, is now a ruin with the internal ceilings col-lapsing and window frames rotting. Further down the road the two-storey house that once stood proud with a Juliet balcony (knocked off by a truck many years ago) is falling into disrepair. One can witness many other instances of this in the village and in many parts of Kythera.Why is this happening? Conservation and preservation seem to be lost in the decadent notion of ownership. Or is it simply that families are unable to re-solve the conflicting problems associated with inheritance and self-interest? Perhaps the owners of these properties just want to hang on to their little bit of the past as they no longer live on the island? Whatever the reason, the end result is they are putting the future of villages such as Kato Chora in jeop-ardy. Bottom line, these properties will only survive if people are committed to maintaining them. You may think that I am being romantic, perhaps you regard me as an intrusive outsider imposing herself on the affairs of others - after all I only visit occasionally, but these properties belong to the future of Kythera. In many ways they are its future.The Kastro is another victim of this neglect. One small outbuilding I noted had virtually no roof remaining at all. I suspect this building may have been a Byzantine church as its interior revealed faint murals. How can this build-ing survive without a roof? The winters on Kythera are unforgiving and do not discriminate. The Kastro of Kato Chora is a beautiful fortress bordering the village square. Everyone agrees on the importance of preserving this historic monument. The problem is reaching a consensus on how. It is a given fact that Greece has a plethora of relics and too little money with which to maintain them. There must, however be some measures that the Municipal Council can enact; organising teams of volunteers for example, particularly skilled workers who could carry out temporary restorations while accessing available project funding for a permanent solution.Let us not be complacent. History needs to be maintained for future gen-erations. Sometimes we need the will as much as we need the money. For families that cannot resolve their inheritance or those who have properties and are unable to maintain them, it is time to pass them on to those who can maintain them thus allowing these architectural gems to remain part of Kytheras history and legacy.

YOU LOVE, LOVE, LOVE KYTHERA. You have been coming here for years and have finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a house here. Well done you. Excellent decision. (And for the record, may I say it was the best decision I ever made.) Here are a few useful tips.Before you do anything, you need a tax file number (-AFi-Mi). You cannot do anything without one. As there is no longer a tax office on Kythera, you will need to go to the KEF ( - Kentro Exipiretisis Forologoumenon) office in Chora to get this. KEF is housed in the old Tax Office which is above the Post Office in the town square.

While there are several real estate agents on the island, it is also a good idea to just ask around. Hey, this is Greece. Everybody knows someone who is selling a house. But be aware that the asking price is more often than not just an opening gambit. Be prepared to negotiate. This can often take some time. Before you agree to purchase, find out how many owners the house has. If it is more than two, stop right there. Go no further. Some houses over the generations have accumulated multiple owners which renders them almost unsellable.Before any property (land and/or house) can be sold it needs to be surveyed. The seller is obliged to do this by law. Dont expect this to happen overnight if you buy in August. These guys are busy. This is part of the process of getting all land and houses onto the national land registry grid. Even if you already own a home (perhaps you have inherited an old family property), if you want to get a permit to fix it up, it will have to be surveyed. (Also be aware that if there are any illegal structures on the property they will either need to be legalised or pulled down before the sale of the property can take place). The property you intend to buy must also have a valid Energy Assessment Certificate. Again this is the sellers responsibility to get.Before you sign on the dotted line it is a good idea to get an engineer to check out the building or property. They can tell you if there is any earthquake or other major structural damage, if there is a vothro (septic tank) or if you need to build one. If the property is in a heritage overlay village, they can advise you what sort of structural or external changes (if any) the Depart-ment of Archaeology will allow. And of course you will need a lawyer to check that the seller is actually the owner. Since there is no Land Registry yet this is done in the Ypothikofylakeio or Contract Registry in Chora.Then again maybe you want to buy land and build from scratch. Oikopeda (plots) can be divided into two major groups: "Endos sxediou", those inside town plans (Ag. Pelagia, Diakofti, Chora, Potamos) and villages or "Ektos sxediou", outside these areas. All oikopeda have minimum dimensions that make then build-able. "Endos sxediou" under certain conditions you can build on very small lots. "Ektos sxediou" you need a minimum of 4000 m or four stremmata as a general rule. This can be less if the lot is on a main road and has very old deeds. An engineer needs to appraise this. The main downside with "ektos sxediou" is that you need an approval from the forestry department saying that the land is not a forest or bush. This takes a long time (two years +) so it is good if the vendor already has it.

A R C H I T E C T U R A L G E M S I N D A N G E R

HOW TO BUY A HOUSE AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTERby Deborah Parsons (with the assistance of the eminently well qualified George Fatseas)

OK. Youve purchased a house and want to fix it up. Now you need a permit.You can use either an en-gineer (mechanicos) or an architect or both to draw up your plans. There are many good engineers and architects on the island. Ask around. Get recommenda-tions. If it is a small job, then an engineer should suffice. These plans are then sub-mitted by the mechanicos to the Poleodomia (planning office) and in some instanc-es also to the Department of Archaeology.The department of Archae-ology supervises all build-ing on the island and an ap-proval is necessary before submitting a permit appli-cation to the Poleodomia. They are mainly interested in being present in any ex-cavation work. However in places like Chora and Mylo-potamos, where ancient ru-ins exist, they will have a say on the architectural design so that the intended build-ing or renovation confirms with the island tradition. This takes about a year. There are also listed herit-age traditional villages like Aroniadika, Kastrisianika, Pitsinades etc, where the intended work has to be ap-proved by an Architectural Committee (different to Archaeology). This commit-tee also approves work on buildings built before 1955. The delay here is not more than a month. Now you need a builder. Again, there are many very good builders on the island. Ask around. Get recommen-dations, see their work. Get written quotes. And like anywhere you have to wait for quotes. They need time. Be aware that the VAT (or FPA-) in Greece is 24%. This will need to be fac-tored into your quote, as will IKA (the social security pension plan contribution). Do you intend being on the island when building is tak-ing place? If not then you should hire a building su-pervisor. Ask your mechani-cos or architect for advice. Building work cannot com-mence until all permits are in place. The mechanicos is obliged by law to check the structural integrity of all building work to make sure it conforms to Greeces rigorous building codes and that everything has been built according to the permit.Once building is completed, the Poleodomia signs off on the permit. Again, you cannot sell your beautifully restored house without the permit be-ing fully signed off.

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AEROSTATO BOOK SALESAT AEROSTATO BOOKSHOP you will find books at

40% off, stationery at 50% off and school bags, notebooks, toys and sports equipment all at 40%

off. Amazing sales from a bookshop with an astonish-ing variety, the best quality and unbeatable prices.

Aerostato bookshop, Kondolianika and Aiolos, Chora.Tel. 27360-34393, 6074805834

CERAMICS AT KATO LIVADI

THE ROUSSOS FAMILY have been producing ceramics at Kato Livadi for almost three decades. They maintain a Kytherian tradition that has been passed down through four generations of pottery making by this family. You will find Panayiotis working on the potter's wheel, daily turning out traditional Kytherian designs as well as intro-ducing new ones. Mother Grigoria attends to the glazing and firing in the kiln, whilst Maria delicately hand paints all the pottery pieces produced in the workshop. The Roussos workshop can be found in Kato Livadi on the main road between Livadi and Kalamos. Everyone is welcome to call in and watch the family at work and choose from the vast range of products on display. Open every day. Tel.: 27360-31124The Roussos gallery is conveniently located in Chora, just a short stroll down from the town square. Here, visitors can also select from exquisitely designed ceramics pro-duced in the workshop. Tel.: 27360-31402.

A R T I S T S A N D G A L L E R I E S

MY HOME

MY HOME stocks the com-plete range of Hills Hoist branded products includ-ing freestanding clothes lines, rotary clothes lines, extenda-lines and porta-bles. You name it, My Home has got it. They also carry a selection of Webers inter-nationally renowned range of barbeques. Choose from either coal fuelled or gas fired. Theyre both brilliant. The coal fuelled bbq's come with a lid with a built-in tem-perature gauge. They are all portable and are designed to be taken anywhere. We-ber barbecues have an even heat. They all cook beauti-fully and keep the meat moist. You can use them to cook indirectly, directly or do a bit of both. Those in the know swear by them. They come with a range of accessories including a pizza stone, a chicken griller and a rotisserie attachment. And theyre all easy to clean.

MY HOME, Karvounades tel. 27360-38120

A WORKSHOP (PLACE WITH TOOLS); AN ART STUDIO (WORKSHOP OF AN ARTIST)

by Maria Markouizou

WE ARRIVED AT AGIA PELAGIA by ferry boat from Gythion after driving down the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, passing through some of Greeces most precious jewels, those pieces of earth embraced by sea. We were searching for nothing more than to find a peaceful place to work over the summer months. It was May 1999. How lucky we were to discover Kythera at that time. I still cant quite believe our good fortune. It was as if the island had been forgotten by the rest of the world. We had suddenly been transported back to another time.

The little we had read had thrilled our imaginations - stories about Kytheras castles and pirates, tales of hard working farming people cultivating every inch of uneven land, not to mention the abandoned villages and migrants in Australia, waterfalls and walking trails to gorges, the fishermens villages and beaches. It all sounded so romantic to us. I shall always treasure those very first images of the island. They will forever be infused with a sense of the new, the undiscovered, the mystery! This island welcomed us with open arms, hospitality, friendship and inspiration. And we in turn have for many years now given it our loyal artistry, our work and our love. If you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit the island outside of July and August you will understand what I mean.Since our first visit to Kythera roads have been paved and dilapidated houses have been restored. Fortunately however the islands traditional characteristics have been maintained. I sincerely hope that the local authorities will help maintain the traditional elements that are so much a part of the islands identity for it is these very traditional characteristics that visitors from around the world come to the island to experience. Visit Maria Markouizou & Jose Paulucci at their workshop in Mylopotamos. There you will find a treasure trove of handmade works of art - creations made from silver, leather, wood and stones. Jewellery, watercolours, icons and so much more.To Ergastiri is located directly opposite Litrivideio, a beautifully restored olive oil factory. To Ergastiri. Mylopotamos, Kythera. Tel: 27360-33162

ONE OF THE MOST scenic locations in Chora is the ka-mara (archway) immediately below the town square. As you enter the doors of the aptly named Gold Castle, you will be blown away by the display of gold, silver, exqui-site Byzantine icons, hand-made worry beads and good luck charms. Leonardo, Gold Castles owner, labours over the winter months, creating icons made from century old olive trees and precious met-als to sell to Kytheras sum-mertime visitors. Ask and he will show you unique hand-made Panayia Myrtidiotissa icons made from all natural materials. Leonardo accepts commissions and guarantees the highest quality crafts-manship at the most reason-able prices.

Gold Castle, Chora tel.: 27360-31954

MANEAS GENERAL STOREMANEAS GENERAL STORE is an essential part of the fabric that makes up this island. This place is an institution and still boasts the original wooden floor and ceiling. Take a look inside and youll see what we mean. The windows are adorned with a collection of tools, cane bas-kets, home wares and antiques. Not much has changed since Polychroni Gerakitis (Maneas) first opened the store in 1945, except that perhaps it looks a little tidier since granddaughter and third generation Aliki took over the family enterprise. She

is the daughter of Foti and the niece of Panayioti. The store stocks everything from underwear to hardware, from fish-ing gear to bed linen, tablecloths and kitchen pans to haber-dashery. Just ask. Whatever it is youre looking for, Aliki will be sure to have it. It may well be tucked away somewhere way up on the very top shelf, but it will be there.Maneas General Store is just down the road from the square in Potamos. Whatever you do, dont miss it! Maneas Store, Potamos, tel.: 27360-33308

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Tel.: 27360-34324 6945-793907 6972-356069

KYTHERA MON AMOURTHE FILM Kythera mon Amour pays homage to Kythera. The young protagonists are torn between their love of the island and the necessity of economic migration. This is something gen-erations of Kytherians understood very well. With many twists and turns the characters manage to find the humorous side to the complex issues confronting them. This poetic love story documents not only the islands landscape and people but also its less tangible aspects: the air, the waves, the sounds and the atmosphere. Kythera mon Amour produced by Tsirigo Pictures & Pigpen Films starring Myrto Petrochilos, Maria Logothetis and George Papageorgiou.Keep an eye out for posters giving dates and screening times on Kythera throughout the summer.

your video guide

11THE PIED PIPER OF POTAMOS

by Cameron Webb

IN THE WINTER OF 1980 a child of the Kytherian diaspora made her first pilgrimage to the island of her parents birth with her two mid-teen sons in tow. A first cousin whom she had nev-er met, a shopkeeper in Potamos, was one of the few relatives left on the island. In this shopkeeper they found a character of literary proportions, a man whose personality might have been lifted from the pages of a Kazantzakis or Durrell novel.Their experiences of this man, Stratis Theodorakakis, would be mirrored by those of all who entered his cornucopia of a store. With a beaming smile and enthusiastic greeting he would be immediately helpful and, ever the gentleman, polite. If Greek wasnt a customers lingo he would attempt to open the doors of communication with whatever snippets of whichever lan-guages he knew.

Stratis was a man well versed in the arts and one of the most cultured men on the island. When languages failed he was not averse to invoking the spirit of Aristophanes and acting out little tragi-comic scenarios to describe events or objects. He would reference paintings, sculptures, literature, poetry, and cinema to illustrate historical events. Always with enthusiasm and humour. However, his most beloved means of communication was always the music. Whether it was leading his precious Philarmonic, the marching band or conducting the ladies chorale or playing a guitar accompaniment to a vocalist, leg up on a chair like a Kytherian Don Juan, music was his element and his gift.Who could ever forget Stratis, nicknamed O Tsambiras (the Trumpeter), trumpet in hand, leading the marching band through Potamos and once finished jumping in front of the microphone to give historical and cultural commentary to the Carnivale pa-rade? Wherever the Trumpeter marched, the band would fol-low, just as the rats of Hameln followed their Pied Piper. But this Pied Piper of Potamos would never lead his procession to

the river depths but always to the heights to which he believed mu-sic could elevate ones soul.Whether an in-terested band member knew someth ing o r nothing about m u s i c S t r a t i s would take them under his wing if they wanted to play. If they had

S T R A T I S T S A M B I R A S T H E O D O R A K I S

CREATIVE KYTHERAby Pia Panaretos

MEN IN LONG BLONDE WIGS, tight dresses, rich red lips and eyes shadowed vibrant blue, jostle with men in peasant dresses, head scarves and aprons dancing with women in trouser suits, pulled back hair and beard pencilled faces. Pirates, buccaneers and brightly wigged fairies are children trans-formed. Potamos plateia is awash with costumed revelry, single men with buttonholed carnations linking arms with women as faux newlyweds.

Paraded up the main street, the colourful procession of Carnivale floats, led by the late Mr Stratis Theodorakakis and his red, black and gold decked Phil-harmonic orchestra, cleverly satirise current social and political matters, the witticisms continuing on stage in mock game shows and comedic acts. It is Apokries, the festive three weeks which fall between the long harsh winters, as the exquisite colours of wildflowers gently suggest spring, and the 40-day Lenten period of abstinence. No wonder the population celebrate the liminal revelry of this Cheesefare Sunday, the final day of Apokries, when Carnivale is enjoyed across Greece, especially in one of Europes largest Car-nivales, the Parade of Patras, attended by 40,000 people.Part of this satirical fun has already taken place on Tsiknopempti, the Thursday of the previous week, when copious amounts of meat are grilled, and where in Ayia Pelagia a beachside-cafe gathering enjoys interviews parodying local community members, and on a larger scale the Hora auditorium hosts a night of performances, skits and lampoonings of local identities. In 2010 with the black cloud of the economic crisis looming over Greece, a local womens thea-tre group presented an insightful, prescient treatise on the stifled economy of Kythera and its lack of real money. Debt passed circuitously from character to character in a striking and dynamic performance. Apokries, with its heightened creativity satirising and subverting paradigms, is an inventive and resilient cycle of the island, connecting fun and community, needed even more so now in these dark times of suffering. It encompasses performance from community burlesque, to theatrical commentary, to the classical art of the marching band. Unfortunately, while Kythera more broadly has an impressive array of art exhibitions and musical performances, funding for the teaching of creative arts has long been limited, let alone in the current crisis when even toilet paper cant be afforded in the schools.Shining as a leading light of generously spirited commitment to not only musical and community performance, but also of accessibility to the arts on Kythera, the late Mr Stratis Theodorakakis taught many members of the Philharmonic, whose white marching uniforms and gold glinting brass in-struments ubiquitously heralded processions of major festivities across the island. In choir practices throughout the year I was fortunate to experience a choirmaster whose warm, indefatigably enthusiastic teaching was forever patiently charming and skillful. If only the children of Kythera had access to funded programs of such quality teaching of creative arts, which is known to enhance achievement, respect, life-skills and self-expression. Kythera has a number of skilled artists available, such as the successor conductor of the Philharmonic, the highly accomplished Panayiotis Lefteris. Wonderfully after nine years of dedicated perseverance, the Archaeological Museum of Kythera has opened this year. Perhaps in the future Kythera will also have a museum of the arts, in which Kytherean community festivities and its classical arts lineage of sculptors, painters and musicians, including the much loved and highly regarded Mr Stratis Theodorakakis, will take place of honour.

no instrument he would find them one. Such was his enthusiasm for the band, he inspired them to design their own quasi-militaristic uniform and here was a man for whom military uniforms represented mixed bless-ings.As a teenager at the end of WWII Stratis donned the makeshift uniform of a re-sistance fighter, replete with shoulder slung ammo belts and a single-shot rifle, for a harmless photo for a friend. The picture found its way to the pages of a local newspaper in a rural back-water in Australia. Unfortu-nately for Stratis the uni-form he was wearing was not that of the forces that prevailed during the Civil War. Somehow the authori-ties were made aware of the picture and Stratis was then inanely exiled to his own is-land, a kind of house arrest. However, true to his nature, he never resented his treat-ment. It was during this time that he fortuitously met his beloved wife ZoZo.At the start of this year the sad news that Stratis had passed on made its way to the mother and her two sons in Australia. They re-turned to Kythera to find empty the emporium which had been a constant over the course of 35 years of visits to the island. No more Stratis beaming proudly among his dizzying array of products, no more watching him patiently wrap a single envelope for a customer if thats all they wanted, no more of the laughs and shouted sales pitch, no more twenty year old post-cards of faded scenes of Ky-thera and 60's era families opening Christmas presents in front of the fireplace, no more mythology-themed childrens colouring books featuring satyrs and nude Aphrodites...The anecdotes about Stratis are many and will continue to be told over the years. Rest in peace, Strati, with the music which will be sure to continue as your accom-paniment.

Band master extraordinaire Stratis Tsambiras Theodorakakis (1927-2014)

PHO

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1houses the Local Archive of Kythera with documents dating as far back as 1560f) The iron cannons which are scattered throughout the castle grounds bearing a construction date of 1660g) The five massive bas-tions which, in conjunction with the surrounding walls, create an imposing, well-maintained structure. (The large bastion on the north-west side bore the familiar emblem of the Serenissima with Intendants coats of arms which were destroyed during the French occupa-tion in 1797). In 1589 (16th century) the city expanded to the north of the castle. This new set-tlement was named Mesa Vourgo or Klisto Vourgo (Borgo serato). This settle-ment had many residences and churches, even a circu-lar tower structure, which were all completely walled-in by an outer castle wall reaching as far as the for-tress walls.Apart from the few dwell-ings which have survived the ages, today one can visit well-maintained churches with frescoes dating back to the 15th century or per-haps even earlier, priceless monuments of byzantine religious artwork of the Cre-tan school (15th -18th cen-tury). The churches of Mesa Vourgo which are preserved and where services are still held are:1. Agios Ioannis Chrisos-tomos, 2. Agios Georgios Kaloutsianou, 3. Agios Ioan-nis Draponezos, 4. Panagia Mesohoritissa, 5. Agia Tri-ada, 6. Sotiras Kaloutsian-ikos (For those of you who will be in Kythera the first fortnight in August, dont forget to enquire about when the churches in Mesa Vourgo will be open to the public).The two medieval structures together, Castle and Mesa Vourgo along with their unique surroundings, make for an exceptional cultural and historical monument.

PALIOHORA OF KYTHERAOn the North-East side of Kythera at an altitude of 165m above sea-level there exists the fortified city of Agios Dimitrios or Paliohora which at one point was the Byzantine capital of Kythera. It is a natural for-tress undetectable from the sea, surrounded by a sheer, deep gorge which branches off to form the cliff face of Agios Kosmas and further on that of Mavro Fridi with grey-red rock cut to create a sheer drop.This ravine was created by huge tectonic earth-quakes and continues down towards the sea where it forms bizarre spirals and jagged rock faces which are

A L T E R N A T I V E J O U R N E Y T O K Y T H E R A

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FORTIFIED CITIES OF KYTHERAby Maria Defterevos, translation Paula Cassimatis

KYTHERA, GATEWAY to the Archipelago (Aegean), eye of Crete, mythical birthplace of the heavenly Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty who, as legend has it, emerged from the sea onto the shores of Kythera. The geographical position of the island, as considered in ancient times, was the crossroads of civilizations and cultures which ultimately defined its progression of development. The Phoeni-cians, Minoan Crete, the Mycenaean Peloponnese, the Ortho-dox Christianity of the Byzantine, the Venetian Domination, the Turkish Domination, the age-old tradition of following along the path of the Ionian Islands, the French occupation and the period of English domination all contributed towards the formation of a cultural uniqueness defining the islands identity between East and West. These influences can be detected in its architecture, language and traditions. There are countless monuments primarily from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods which bear witness to a landscape of historical recollection associated with the natural advantages of the island such as beaches of incomparable beauty, ravines, gorges, waterfalls and enchanting trails.

CASTLE OF CHORA

The historical ark of Kythera is the Castle at Chora, also known as Fortezza of Kythera or the Castle of Kapsali situated at an altitude of 175m above sea-level at the peak of a natural hill fort known as Palamida. The castles foundations were laid in 1238 during the Byzantine period and in 1398 the Castellan (governor of the fortress) under the command of the Serenissima (The Most Serene) Republic of Venice renovated its fortification. The restoration was completed in 1503 by the Venetians in the form we see it today. It has an irregular parallelogram perim-eter which, together with the borgo serato section, covers an area of 30 square kilometers. The Venetian fortress by medieval standards was a densely populated, organised city with the palace (headquarters) on the acropolis, various state buildings (barracks), churches, water supply infrastructure (water-stor-age tanks), grain and army supply storerooms along with the private residences of the cittadini and popolari (institutionalized social classes).Sights of particular interest to visitors today are the follow-ing: a)The 4 post-byzantine period churches The church of Panagia Orfany decorated with 16th and 17th century frescoes (at one time under the jurisdiction of the mon-astery of Agarathou, Heraklion Crete, protector of the Kallona family) The church of Panagia Myrtidiotissa (former Catholic church then called Panagia Latinon between 1580 and 1806) The church of Pantokratora boasting 16th and 17th century frescoes with a construction date of 1545 The church of Agios Ioannis Prodromou categorized as ius patronato privato (privately-owned)b) Public guard houses and underground prison facilityc) Ammunition storage warehouse (directly accessible from the church of Pantokratora) which today houses the exhibition of the noble families coats of arms and also housed temporarily the marble lion of Kythera which, in days gone by, was posi-tioned on the North-Western rampart of the fortress beside the gateway to the castle. Today the lion of Kythera stands proudly in the Archaeological Museum in Chora.d) The impressively structured underground water storage tank (16th century Venetian cistern) with its arches and domed ceil-ingse) The Palace of the Intendants (headquarters) which today

almost impossible to navigate on foot. Just before reaching the sea at a place called Kakia Lagada the ravine opens up to form the lake of Paliohora which is not only of great beauty but also immense ecological importance.This secluded, naturally fortified landscape gives one the impression that it was specifically intended for the location of an inaccessible settlement. The construction of the town was first begun in the Post-Byzantine period during the Dynasty of Emperor Mihail Paleologou (1261 1282) by the Evdemono-giannis and Monogiannis families of the House of Monemvasia which then governed Kythera (end of the 11th century). At this time, according to Venetian documents, Pavlos Evdemono-giannis was the Imperial Duke and captain of Kythera known by the name of Sevastos. The construction of Paliohora was carried out in sequential phases within a period of decades, per-haps even centuries, in at least three stages of construction activity.The citys buildings and in par-ticular the churches appear to be strongly influenced by the archi-tecture of Monemvasia. The pri-mary building materials used by the master builders during that era were the following: rocks, hand-crafted Byzantine roof tiles for the churches, limestone and slate bonded together with lime mortar known as kourasani, the durability of which was due to a type of sand the inhabitants called halepa".The construction of the fortress offered successive defensive lines. It was fortified by domed cannon gun turrets, battlements and guardroom observation posts (so-called vardioles) in the centre of which was the commanders residence (a tower-like building with a circular exterior but oblong interior).Almost all the buildings of Paliohora (both churches and dwellings) formed part of the defensive line of the city, all having a dual purpose due to the limited width of